Trying to Soak It All Up

As the semester comes to a close and I realize I'm about to graduate college (where did that 4 years GO??) I've been trying to soak up as much as I can in amongst all the end-of-semester craziness. I've been getting my homework done (example: finished my last Strategic Policy case EVER this afternoon!) and trying to get things arranged for next fall (I found an apartment I like, Dad agreed to co-sign the lease, Matt is going to store some of my stuff at his place and Dr. Frazier agreed to let me store the rest of my stuff in his garage for the summer, etc). But in amongst all that homework and to-do lists I've also been having a lot of fun. Thursday night we had a mandatory hall meeting. Afterwards my suitemate Katie and I stayed in Loramy and Ashton's room and just talked and laughed. That then turned into a karaoke fest... Loramy and Katie singing a duet... they're so into it don't you think!
Here's the puzzle I started and finished in one night... this is what happens when you don't have homework and your friends are all busy haha! Then yesterday afternoon Matt and I played tennis (and I got my first official sunburn of the year! haha). Then we went to Riverside Park...

Matt climbing at Riverside

I like the angle of this shot... you can't tell how high off the ground I am haha!

Got this shot of the sunset as we drove out to the lake last night. We then sat on a bench at the lake and watched a bunch of fishing boats come in for the night. We had one of the best conversations ever just sitting on that bench and getting eaten by bugs (yep, pretty sure I counted 22 bites on my legs today!) I have been replaying parts of that amazing conversation in my head all day today. Then today after I did some homework, I went and sat out at the ball diamonds with Matt on the golf cart while he was working and looking after things at a high school ball tournament. It was fun to just sit and talk. The more time I spend with him the more I can't get enough. Mensch, this summer is going to be tough without him...

So overall... there is still a fair amount to do before grad but I am quite pleased with how some things have fallen into place and how I've knocked out a lot of stuff on my list. I'm trying to soak up all the time I can with friends... and I hope there's another random karaoke night with the girls coming up because that was a blast! The time I've spent with Matt this past week has been so great. Matt, if you are reading this... I love you and I'm going to miss you mucho this summer. I can't wait to see what the future has in store and I look forward to being by your side to experience it all :-)

Celebrating Success

Last Thursday night was the COBA Awards ceremony. Matt had to take an extended dinner break from work in order to make it but I was so glad he was there :-) The evening was nice. Dinner, a speaker, recognition of all the business clubs, competition teams and scholarship & award recipients. Here's a few pics from the night...

Our SAM plaque now that they put our names on it :-)

Dr. Frazier with our SAM trophy now that they put Harding University on it (bottom right)

Dr. Frazier awarding me with the Senior Management award

2 years ago Matt was my date for the COBA awards dinner before we even started dating... look how far we've come!

Me messing around back in the room afterwards... yes that Valentine's balloon was still floating on April 16th!!

A Good Friday

Okay this is a little delayed... but in my 2nd to last post I wrote about being excited to go hiking with Matt on Good Friday. The day turned out to be fabulous. We went to Lake Catherine State Park and hiked up to the falls. Then we went and toured around Hot Springs since neither of us had been there before. The hike was very pretty and Hot Springs is a neat town. It was nice to get out and get some fresh air and just spend all day together. Here's a few pics of our adventures...

A panorama of the lake from one of the lookout points

Sitting at one of the lookout points... I love this guy!

The falls

Cleaning Out My Desk

I found these quotes written on little scraps of paper when I was cleaning out my desk (I'm trying to get a head start on the end-of-the-semester cleaning nonsense) Thought I would share them with you...

"Eat it... Eat it... Crack yourself an egg and beat it!" - my suitemate Jody, while cooking

Nikki: "Don't leave"

Me: "I have to. My life is calling me"

Nikki: "Well then hang up the phone!"

"It would be so much easier being stupid" - our dorm mom Mrs. Timms

"I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain & bought jewelry" - Rita Rudner, on a placard in our hotel room advertising her comedy show at Harrah's

Time On My Hands

I'm sitting in my dorm room trying to figure out what to do with myself. Nikki's asleep a few feet away from me. I can hear bits and pieces of the slightly dramatic "boy" conversation my suitemates are having in the living room. Thunder is rumbling outside my window. I guess the weather.com-predicted storms are blowing in for the night...
This afternoon I turned in my last project of the week. All of my classes tomorrow are cancelled for one reason or another. Yes, this means I'm done with school/projects until Monday (minus the 3 tests I have next week that I should probably study for over the weekend). I have taken full advantage of my free night by watching a movie, eating pizza, watching 3 episodes of M*A*S*H, talking to Mom & Dale on the phone, playing Bejeweled and now blogging. It's so weird to have this much time on my hands. The last few weeks have been so crazy...
Last weekend was the Governor's Cup business plan competition. Unfortunately we didn't advance to the next round but it was a good experience overall (and we got to stay at the Peabody in Little Rock for two nights for free!) I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a relief to have all my competitions over with and be able to focus on my 16 hrs of classes! I had lots of little assignments and a big HR project due this week plus I woke up with a cold Monday morning, so it's been an exhausting week to say the least...
I believe I shall sign off for now. I really don't have much else to say other than I am really excited to go hiking tomorrow with Matt since neither of us have classes. We're going to pack a lunch to eat by the waterfalls and everything!! :-)

Nobody's Happy

Got this in an email today... It's funny and entertaining.... but perhaps we do need to stop being annoyed at the little things and think about how amazing life is?